Spokane (via This Year’s Love) My new cat. An only cat. She’s almost three months old I’m guessing. She was free off of Craigslist. I rehomed my two cats the first of January because that was a very rough time in my life, I had to clean house…literally and figuratively. I didn’t want to separate the cats but having both of them was too much, so they got adopted together. But then I missed having a cat and my real cat Omaha still lives with my parents. I would love to take her but they won’t let me and she would never be happy in this small house with nowhere to hide or call her own domain. Omaha rules the basement and only has to venture upstairs every once and a while to get food where her only competition is a miniature Dachshund named Kailo who is half her size. It didn’t matter to Omaha that I still gave her lots of attention after I brought Judah home at six weeks old. To Omaha that was the ultimate betrayal. And then I brought in the other dogs and the cats and that was it. She was done with me. But now there’s only Judah, Israel and Simona, my goldfish Bealltainn, Reiko, Annachie and Samhainn, and now this new cat Spokane. Why Spokane? Why Omaha? My maternal grandfather’s family comes from Nebraska and for almost ten years my entire family drove out there for the family reunion none of us outside of Nebraska knew about until the 90’s! We were the Chicago Cousins & everyone loved us—we definitely shared the feeling. Farmers, butchers, ranchers, most of them are missing fingers or at least part of fingers, some entire arms. Industrial equipment will do that sort of thing. Other than the plaid shirt and dusty jeans or the tired baseball cap frayed at the edges, the easiest way tell if the person is from the country is to check their hands—guaranteed someone is missing a digit. My mom’s family is from Cozad, the founder of which shot a many-greats-grandfather in an argument, the injury killed him two months later. I just found this article in a google search and the women that edited it are my cousin & great aunt. http://files.usgwarchives.org/ne/dawson/biography/pears001.txt So every summer we would drive through Omaha (which is very far east) to get to Cozad, which is more central. I also love Carl Sandburg and a poem mentioning Omaha spoke to me so when I get my first kitten in July of 2004 I named her Omaha Siobhan Gable Radcliffe. Sunset From Omaha Hotel Window I really wanted a white, blue-eyed cat but why be picky? So I got this kitten and named her Spokane Ursula Twilight Muse … Spokane is where my mother is from in the state of Washington, where her father, a direct descendent of Alfred Pearson who John J. Cozad murdered, eventually settled. Every summer growing up my family made the 30+ hour drive to Spokane packed in the car, driving straight through with only my parents to share the task. We never stopped to admire the scenery or the landmarks, we just kept trucking and watched the tourist traps fly past. And then we settled into Spokane, where my grandparents live in a blue house on a deadend street that has a mountain view that I long for now in a ridiculous nostalgic way. I would love to take the thorny path to the school behind the other houses to the playground where we would hang out on those dry, cool summer nights that were a far cry from the steamy humidity of Chicago. I haven’t been back in almost six years. If I had time or money I would go, but I lack both. One of these years…I hope….

Spokane (via This Year’s Love)

My new cat. An only cat. She’s almost three months old I’m guessing. She was free off of Craigslist. I rehomed my two cats the first of January because that was a very rough time in my life, I had to clean house…literally and figuratively. I didn’t want to separate the cats but having both of them was too much, so they got adopted together. But then I missed having a cat and my real cat Omaha still lives with my parents. I would love to take her but they won’t let me and she would never be happy in this small house with nowhere to hide or call her own domain. Omaha rules the basement and only has to venture upstairs every once and a while to get food where her only competition is a miniature Dachshund named Kailo who is half her size.

It didn’t matter to Omaha that I still gave her lots of attention after I brought Judah home at six weeks old. To Omaha that was the ultimate betrayal. And then I brought in the other dogs and the cats and that was it. She was done with me.

But now there’s only Judah, Israel and Simona, my goldfish Bealltainn, Reiko, Annachie and Samhainn, and now this new cat Spokane. Why Spokane? Why Omaha? My maternal grandfather’s family comes from Nebraska and for almost ten years my entire family drove out there for the family reunion none of us outside of Nebraska knew about until the 90’s! We were the Chicago Cousins & everyone loved us—we definitely shared the feeling. Farmers, butchers, ranchers, most of them are missing fingers or at least part of fingers, some entire arms. Industrial equipment will do that sort of thing. Other than the plaid shirt and dusty jeans or the tired baseball cap frayed at the edges, the easiest way tell if the person is from the country is to check their hands—guaranteed someone is missing a digit.
My mom’s family is from Cozad, the founder of which shot a many-greats-grandfather in an argument, the injury killed him two months later. I just found this article in a google search and the women that edited it are my cousin & great aunt. http://files.usgwarchives.org/ne/dawson/biography/pears001.txt

So every summer we would drive through Omaha (which is very far east) to get to Cozad, which is more central. I also love Carl Sandburg and a poem mentioning Omaha spoke to me so when I get my first kitten in July of 2004 I named her Omaha Siobhan Gable Radcliffe.
Sunset From Omaha Hotel Window

I really wanted a white, blue-eyed cat but why be picky? So I got this kitten and named her Spokane Ursula Twilight Muse … Spokane is where my mother is from in the state of Washington, where her father, a direct descendent of Alfred Pearson who John J. Cozad murdered, eventually settled. Every summer growing up my family made the 30+ hour drive to Spokane packed in the car, driving straight through with only my parents to share the task. We never stopped to admire the scenery or the landmarks, we just kept trucking and watched the tourist traps fly past. And then we settled into Spokane, where my grandparents live in a blue house on a deadend street that has a mountain view that I long for now in a ridiculous nostalgic way. I would love to take the thorny path to the school behind the other houses to the playground where we would hang out on those dry, cool summer nights that were a far cry from the steamy humidity of Chicago. I haven’t been back in almost six years. If I had time or money I would go, but I lack both. One of these years…I hope….

3 years ago  Notes (0)